The Story Of Us
by Broken Jar Of Hearts
Summary: Their story. From Tenten's POV. Set from the start until the 4th Shinobi War begins. One-shot. Might write a continuation. Tenten POV.
A lot of people have their own versions of our story so I've decided to write a story of what it really is. I have a collection of my own scrolls and books, so I have thought, why can't I write my own? And with this as a subject.

I wouldn't lie that I did not notice that Neji is quite handsome when we were on the academy. All the other girls are all over him, but he was just too cold for them to ever push it. It's just that I know that it's not what I should focus on and that there is another purpose to studying in the Shinobi Academy.

As fate would have it, I was assigned on the same team as he is. With Guy sensei and Lee who eventually became his copycat. The lookalikes in our team are really way way different. And although Neji is very professional, and can still work with them well, he works and can get along better with me. I really didn't give any meaning to it. I know that I shouldn't as a shinobi and that this should all just be for the sake of teamwork, or to be a better shinobi, or to be successful in completing our missions. For him it's more of for his own self than for the sake of the team.

For the sake of sanity he decided to have a silent agreement to have me more of his partner since it's so obvious that our sensei and other teammate are the ones that are really partners in our team. We didn't really mull over that much about it. We really didn't mind. We really wouldn't like to be his favorite student after all. We can't just imagine the horror of how we'd end up like.

Still, it doesn't mean that we don't respect our sensei. It's just that, there's really a side of him that makes us want to rather get along with each other than with Gai sensei and Lee.

As for what I thought when the guy whom I noticed a bit in the academy was assigned to the same team as I am, I just thought that a lot of girls must have envied me, but I am really in control over my thoughts because I never want anything to get in a way of me being an excellent shinobi and for this team to work well, since we're going to end up with each other most of the time. Most of all, I don't want to get hurt and be caught up with all the drama, like the two kunoichi in the first Chuunin exam we took who used to be best friends but became mortal enemies because of a man. It's not that I belittle them. It's just that I don't want to end up like that, which is what happens when one's admiration gets out of control.

The admiration I had for him was never something that had gotten out of control of, even when I get to spend a lot of time with him since we have graduated from the academy. And for that I was thankful. It was just a friendly and sibling-like admiration. Or more like friends, which is what I ended up with those two girls who fought in the first Chuunin exam we took. People know them as Ino and Sakura. Most of the shinobi from Konoha who took the Chuunin exams that time ended up being a part of Konoha 11. It could have been Konoha 12 if Sasuke didn't choose to betray the village back then.

We of Konoha 11 have gotten closer to each other because of different missions that each of us from different teams have been assigned together and because of all the connections, such as how Hinata is Neji's cousin, and Naruto is the person she loves and all that.

But one of the most crucial connections for Neji was when he fought Naruto in the Chuunin exam and how Naruto made Neji realized that he isn't a caged bird. I didn't really know that Neji is thinking like that. We haven't really talked that much of personal things. I'm really glad that Naruto was able to change him and I noticed it right away when I visited him after his loss. I was planning to comfort him even if I know that he's not someone that would admit that he want it but it does appear that he really needed it.

After that he really changed. He's no longer that cold. He's still stoic and silent, but there's now warmth in it and he really cares now for other people, like us his teammates and his family, especially Hinata whom he's supposed to protect and not almost kill, like when they fought in the Chuunin exams.

I was really able to confirmed how concerned he was about our team when he hurried to rescue me from Kisame's water bubble prison. I was just too tired that time to be able to notice our body contact, which I ended up thinking about moments after that incident. But I can't let something get any further, because we're teammates and I don't want to risk that. Because everything starts in the mind. Also, he was a close range fighter and having sparred with him a lot of times, it's not as if this is the first time it happened. There had been a lot of Hyuuga taijutsu moves that he practiced on me. And instances of body contact are unavoidable whenever there are missions. Besides, it doesn't appear that he's thinking about such a thing at all, that he's having body contact with a lady.

Our relationship has always been like that. At times whenever we're free and not training, we would casually stroll around town. It was really a comfortable setup and I refused on having such romantic thoughts about this. It's really just friendship and he appears to think the same.

Then came the war. I know that there is the possibility of us dying anytime soon. So I decided to make a casual confession, if such a thing could ever be casual. Before we were sent to our different divisions, he chanced to talk to me. And I didn't really put any meaning into it except of being friends and teammates because that's the kind of relationship we have.

He pulled me into an area where there is not much people around so that we can talk properly to each other. We sat down under a tree. Just like in our training grounds.

"Tenten."

"Yes?"

"There's something that I want to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Since we're going into war and there might be the possibility of us not seeing each other again… I just want to tell you that you're an important person to me and I appreciate how you are always able to easily understand me. There's no other lady that I really get along with, since there were never much of them, except Lady Hinata who is my cousin and the daughter of my father's twin, which makes our blood relationship actually closer than that of a first cousin. As of now I can't imagine being around any other woman but you. And there's no one else I like but you…. So if we would be given a chance to come out of this war alive… Would it be okay if we put our relationship in the next level?"

I was a bit shocked and at the same time not really with what I hear. His explanation actually does makes sense. What doesn't is that we've been with each other for so long and it is only now that he said this.

"I would be more than willing to do that. But why is it only now that you're saying this?" I tried to be as less dramatic as I can be.

"I don't want for any of us to die without you knowing about it. I'm sorry about that. I admit to taking your presence in my life for granted. We also had other priorities. Such as being a better shinobi. And also because for a long time I was contented with having you by my side like that instead of risking pulling you closer with the possibility of us getting farther away from each other."

"You do know that this would be harder to get off my head as we enter this war."

"Is there any way that I can help you with that?"

I thought of a way of how I can get through this. Of going to the war with his confession in my head. Of going to war with the possibility of having him closer denied from me.

"What if we make the most of our last time together? Last time for now atleast."

"What do you mean by that?"

I embraced him as hard as I can. After a few seconds I felt him embracing me back. We stayed like that for a while until I felt him freeing my hair from its usual buns and running his hand through it then through my scalp.

"I've always wanted to do this." He whispered to my ear in a voice lower than what I ever heard from him before. It made me shiver and my heartbeat is now beating faster. I sensed that his was the same.

He pulled away and still holding me in his arms. He gazed at me, as if memorizing every inch of my face and my hair which is slightly disheveled from being freed from the usual way of how it has been tied. Somehow that gaze had made me felt nervous even if there's actually no reason to.

"Is something the matter?" He asked.

"Uhmmmm… Well, it's just that maybe I'm really not used to you being like this." I answered nervously. Damn it, I really shouldn't be like this.

He pulled me closer to be able to whisper in my ear again. "I'm also a man, you know. And I'm no exempt to this."

He pulled away and looked at my face again then he closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss my forehead. His lips feel so hot against my skin. And he lingered for a few seconds there before moving to my nose… He must have noticed how it was getting harder and harder for me to breather… Then to my cheek which he would have noticed was flushed and heated up right now… Then to my lips which parted in the midst of what we are doing…

Never in my life was my breath more taken away…

The kiss was just a quick touch of the lips. Nothing more. But I had little strength after that because my heart had been beating wildly. He just embraced me again and I mustered up the strength that I have to embrace him back and we just stayed like that for a few minutes until my or both of our heart rates went back to normal and he started to absent-mindedly and lazily draw circles at my back. My heart was beating wildly a few minutes before I wasn't really able to sense if his was the same.

When the time came for us to go back with our team, he stood up first then pulled me to my feet. Then he was looking to me again.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I was just checking if it won't be obvious that we did what we just did when we go back there. I'm not really in the mood to be explaining to other people. All I really want to do is to rest."

So we went back together to meet the rest of the shinobi for the war. Then he suddenly caught my hand. I think that would stop people from asking questions where we might have been.

When we met the others again, it's really noticeable that people are observing our hands that are linked together, but they didn't asked any more questions because it would actually make sense for us to be together, especially now that we would engage in this war. But of all the people who took notice, the most noticeable reactions that I got are the giddy faces of Sakura, Hinata and Ino and of Hyuuga Hiashi's understanding and respect of Neji's request, as a nephew that he is indebted to for his life because of his twin brother.

"I would like for the two of us to have our own tent as we rest before the war starts."

Luckily his clan is one of the richest who made a lot of financial contributions for this war so his request was granted. And when we rest in our tent, we found a comfortable position next to each other in an embrace that I wish would never end, that I wish I would be able to do again. And he's still doing the circle patterns at my back which he seems to have a fetish for before we have fallen asleep.


End file.
